Racy men give ladies a run for their money

THEY flocked to Leeside yesterday like it was the beginning of the Christmas sales as approximately 10,000 women crossed the line and completed the city’s 25th annual mini-marathon.

For this year’s event the route was changed and the course was shortened making it accessible to more people.

Similarly, the definition of what it took to be a woman was warped slightly with similar affect. Along with runners, joggers and panters, Frank Henry was one of many cross-dressing fundraisers who tackled the four-mile route.

Ample fake breasts were not his only appendage as he diligently pushed his friend John Murphy, who was donned in a nappy and squeezed into a pram.

John said: “It started one night just kidding but before we knew it we had the cards and there was no going back”.

Some participants were familiar with the annual spectacle but for others it was their first time out.

Noreen Connolly from Dunmanway was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis last year and before she celebrates her 40th birthday next week she and 28 of her friends laced up their runners and raised a “few thousand euro” for MS Ireland.

She said: “I was diagnosed last year so they have all come out to support me and raised sponsorship... they are brilliant, it is great to be here.”

T-shirts representing a myriad of charities showed the extent to which the event, organised by Cork County Athletics Association, affects the lives of countless people throughout the year.

Twelve months ago Deborah Barry lost her battle with cancer and in her honour a troop of walkers from Mitchelstown collected money for St Therese’s Oncology Unit at Cork University Hospital.

The group included her 70-year-old mother-in-law Mary Barry and Deborah’s sister-in-law Una Fitzgerald.

“We are doing this in her memory, this is what she would have wanted and she is here doing it with us,” Una said.

By mid-afternoon the hoards of women had crossed the line while many of the pantomime queens threw their high-heels to one side and made a final dash for somewhere to catch the closing stages of the Ryder Cup, they had made enough of a sacrifice for one day.